Children's talent. A gifted child in a family A scientific approach to the conception of a gifted child

November 20 is celebrated as World Children's Day around the world. Almost half a century ago, the UN General Assembly recommended that all countries introduce the celebration of world day child as a day of world brotherhood and mutual understanding of children.

Today, much attention is paid to the issues of early development and upbringing of children. Psychologists believe that every healthy child can be potentially gifted. Under favorable conditions that are created for him at school and at home, potential talents develop into real ones.

There are many techniques that develop a child's intelligence, memory and creativity. All of them are aimed at maximizing the potential of the child.

In favor of early development is the fact that in the first years of life, brain cells develop rapidly, and the foundation is laid for the further growth of human abilities and qualities. Therefore, it is so important to engage in speech with the child, to help him in mental development.

Mental and spiritual qualities must not be overlooked. If a child is constantly scolded, he will learn to condemn, if he is praised - to evaluate, if insulted - to be guilty. But a friendly atmosphere and approval will give the child a sense of self-importance and need, help him understand how to find and give love.

Games

The upbringing of a little genius must begin with the game. Studies in rats have shown that an active play environment increases brain volume by 25%. The same thing happens with a person. Beautiful, imaginative toys have the same effect on the child. It is extremely important to provide him with free access to them and the opportunity to choose.

The optimal set of toys for a future genius includes paints, plasticine, colored paper, constructors, balls, a sports corner (Swedish wall, swing, trampoline), role-playing sets (doll houses for girls, workshops for boys), simple musical instruments, soft toys . The latter should not be too much, in everything it is worth knowing the measure.

Children also need to be taught how to play. It is important that parents themselves play with their children for several minutes a day. To do this, it is worth delimiting the children's room into zones: play, sports and sensory. It should contain things of different textures, sizes and smells.

Music instead of foreign languages

It is believed that teaching a child a foreign language should be as early as possible. This is not entirely true. Psychologists assure that the optimal age for learning a foreign language comes only after the child speaks confidently in his native language, that is, at 5-7 years old. It has been proven that a child with whom parents speak two languages ​​begins to speak later. This is due to the fact that the brain of the baby is overloaded.

Since a child cannot always deal with words and sentences, some psychologists say that it is best to start learning a foreign language from the age of 14. However, there is one little trick here: at a young age, you can lay the foundation for further learning. To do this, it is enough to learn one nursery rhyme with the baby. Then, at the age of 14, the rest of the language system will form its basis.

Another myth of the theory of early development is to show the child cards so that he remembers more. In fact, it would be much more correct to just play hide and seek with the baby. Alternatively, you can study simple cards with already familiar words with your child. Write a description of the item on it. As a result, the baby will replenish vocabulary, and he will quickly master the letter. Numbers will help to learn the game of loto.

Classical music, such as the works of Mozart, activates brain activity. However, there are some nuances here too. Firstly, you should not constantly exploit the same melody and musical instruments. Secondly, if the parents do not have a hearing, it is better for the child not to sing. This will not help the development of his musical talents.

The main thing is health

It is important to play sports with the child at home and on the street. In general, he must move a lot. This is much more important than learning foreign languages. That is why child psychologists talk about the need for wall bars. Climbing the stairs, the child becomes more confident. This is how leadership qualities are formed in him.

Do not severely limit the child in watching TV and spending time at the computer. It will be much more correct to correctly allocate time, and give the child time to rest. It is also necessary to take care of the normal lighting of the workplace and proper posture.

In general, when raising a little genius, it is better to overdo it with the methods of early education than not to deal with a child at all. Meanwhile, if there is a choice between an occupation, for example, music and a walk, the latter must be chosen. Still, health is more important.

Early Development Methods

Waldorf technique

The Waldorf method is part of the anthroposophical doctrine, which was created by the Austrian scientist Rudolf Steiner at the beginning of the 20th century. This technique has more opponents than followers. For example, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church spoke quite sharply about this education system.

The Waldorf method does not accept early intellectual development. For example, teaching a child to read and write begins no earlier than ten or twelve years old, when the child's spiritual and emotional world is already developed. A TV and a computer are considered contraindicated, as they can provoke stress or convey unnecessary information.

In Waldorf pedagogy, the emphasis is on the development emotional state child, his creative abilities. The main occupations according to the Waldorf method are ceramics, embroidery, music, theatrical performances, drama and puppet shows. Preference is given to homemade toys made from natural materials (wood, wool, clay).

Frebel technique

Friedrich Fröbel - German humanist, teacher, author of the original system of education and training of preschoolers in a team, creator of the first kindergartens. Froebel believed that children express themselves and learn through play. For his kindergarten, he developed a set of games and toys that children received as gifts, such as blocks or balls. Also in the Fröbel kindergarten, children sang songs, played various games or listened to the stories of educators.

Friedrich Fröbel suggested using paper folding as a method for teaching children the simple rules of geometry. He advised children to practice origami in order to first understand geometry with their fingers, and then with the mind. In addition, the teacher is known as the author of the puzzle - the so-called "Fröbel blocks". The blocks are a cube and are stacked in a cubic wooden box.

Montessori Method

Maria Montessori is a famous Italian teacher. At first, her method was used for the upbringing and education of children who were lagging behind in development for various reasons. But after the results of working with such children were successful, she decided to transfer her method to healthy children.

Maria Montessori believed that every child is smart and talented by nature. Adults should help him discover his potential, teach him to explore the world on his own. To do this, it is necessary to create an environment in which the child will be able and willing to show their individual abilities, develop and learn at their own pace.

The Montessori pedagogical system consists of three parts: the child, the environment, and the teacher. The focus is on the child. In an "immersive" environment, he improves his physical condition, learns to move, feel the world around him, gains knowledge from his own experience. The task of the teacher is to observe the child and create an environment in which the child can develop comprehensively. The principle of Montessori pedagogy: "Help me to do it myself."

According to the Montessori methodology, development takes place in 5 areas: the field of feelings (development of the sense organs), practical life skills, mathematics, native language, space education. Space education is a Montessori term, which includes the basics of geography, biology, physics, chemistry. There are Montessori manuals, for example, the well-known "frames and inserts". This is a set of frame-plates, in each of which holes are cut out, closed with a lid-liner of the same shape and size.

Glen Doman Method

Glen Doman is an American pediatrician, founder of the Philadelphia Institute "Better Baby Institute" (BBI), the author of a unique methodology for developing the mental abilities of children of an early age. By the beginning of the 1960s. through his famous work with mentally retarded children, he organized research to improve the mental growth of normal children. The basis of his methodology is the development of visual and physical abilities from birth.

Doman believes that learning is only effective when the brain is growing. And the human brain grows up to seven - seven and a half years, but it happens most intensively in the first three years of life. Based on this, he developed his system for kids from 2 to 4 years old. During this period, a child can be taught a lot - from a foreign language to higher mathematics.

The goal of Doman's methodology, in his own words, is "to give children unlimited opportunities in life. And the implementation of this goal will be determined by what the child chooses for himself, who he decides to become, what he will like from a long list of possibilities."

Glen Doman prefers visual experience as a way of knowing the world. He recommends showing children from the first days of life a series of cards from different areas of life, ranging from written words, cards with dots (mathematics) to pictures of plants, animals, etc.

This technique has many opponents. Their arguments are as follows: the technique is very laborious and practically impossible. The child does not participate in the learning process itself. He only perceives information, and his creative and research capabilities do not develop.

Method Cecile Lupan

Cecile Lupan is a Belgian actress. Since 1981, she moved to the USA, where she taught acting. In the same period, when she was a young mother, she got acquainted with the Doman method. Cecile Lupan used her to raise her two daughters. However, she slightly altered this technique, making certain adjustments there.

The modified method of Cecile Lupan differs from the method of Glenn Doman in that the latter observes many children at once, and therefore cannot penetrate into their spiritual world. Cecile Lupan, on the contrary, observes only her children and tries to understand what exactly they need, and gives it to them at the moment when they want it.

Cecile Lupan selects teaching methods more individually and adheres to the following four principles:

1) The best teachers for a baby are his parents;

2) Learning is a game that should be stopped before the child gets tired;

3) Never test your child;

4) Curiosity is supported by speed and novelty.

Shinichi Suzuki Method

Shinichi Suzuki is a Japanese violinist, teacher, and philosopher. Here is the basis of his approach: "musicality is not an innate talent, but an ability that, like any ability, can be developed. Any child, properly trained, can become musical - it's no more difficult than learning to speak their native language. Potential every little man is unlimited."

The Suzuki method was born from his observation of how easily children learn their native language. He decided to use the language teaching method in learning to play the violin. The method was called "The Birth of Talent". However, Dr. Suzuki has always noted that he uses music education only as an additional opportunity to develop a child, to help him learn about the world.

Nikitin's technique

Boris Pavlovich and Lena Andreevna Nikitin are innovative teachers, parents of seven children from the city of Bolshevo near Moscow. They created their own system of raising and improving children in the family. The Nikitin system is natural development and educational games.

The first principle of the methodology is light clothing and a sports environment in the house: children from early childhood have access to sports equipment. Children are not forced to special training, exercises, lessons. The guys do as much as they want, combining sports activities with all other activities.

Another principle of the methodology is the constant attention of parents to the activities of the kids, participation in their games, competitions, life itself.

Boris and Elena Nikitin developed their own principles of development in the practice of life. "We used them intuitively, unconsciously, pursuing only one goal: not to interfere with development, but to help it, and not to put pressure on the child in accordance with our own plans, but ... to create conditions for its further development." Nikitins are the authors of such educational games as "Fold the square", "Fold the pattern", "Fractions", "Bricks", "Dice for everyone", "Unicube".

Zaitsev's technique

Nikolai Zaitsev is an innovative teacher from St. Petersburg, the author of new trends in the methods of teaching mathematics and grammar. The main principle of Zaitsev's methodology is the storage principle, i.e. the smallest particle of speech in this technique is not a letter, not a syllable, but a warehouse or an effort that we make when we pronounce a sound. Warehouses in tables and on cubes differ in color, size, volume, sound (cubes are filled with different materials).

Zaitsev's well-known manual is "Cubes". But there are also "240 pictures for teaching writing, reading, drawing", "Read and sing" with an audio cassette, a manual "I write beautifully". The author created methods for teaching elementary mathematics, English language. Zaitsev himself believes that this technique can be used for children from 2 years old and is more suitable for working in a group.

Tyulenev's technique

Pavel Tyulenev - sociologist, teacher, president of the Association of Teachers - Innovators. He is the author of "Method of Intellectual Development of the Child", or "System of Accelerated Learning MIR". Among Tyulenev's books there are such as "Reading Before Walking", "Counting Before Walking", "Knowing Notes Before Walking", "Undertaking Before Walking".

Tyulenev believes that in order to teach a child various skills before he learns to walk, you need to create an appropriate environment for him, starting from birth.

The technique differs in that all the applied recommendations gradually become more complicated, from the first weeks of life to adulthood. However, Tyulenev also has opponents. They question the effectiveness of such rapid development. It should also be taken into account that this system has existed not so long ago, and it is still very early to talk about concrete results.

The material was prepared by the editors of rian.ru based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Thomas Edison, arguably the most brilliant inventor in human history, was once told that he was too narrow-minded and incapable of learning. Albert Einstein, the greatest physicist, heard from many people since childhood that he was good for nothing. Giftedness is a complex gift of fate, and children with high intelligence are often misunderstood and underestimated.

What is giftedness? This is when the child's abilities are significantly above the norm for their age. And giftedness can manifest itself in different areas: languages, creativity, mathematics or science.

How can you recognize it in children?

1. They constantly ask how things work.

The curiosity of a gifted child can be compared to the behavior of a pet, constantly exploring the environment. Gifted children are always interested in everything. Parents can only wish for patience to cope with the incessant stream of questions.

2. They prefer the company of adults.

Gifted children quickly grasp the topics discussed in kindergarten and school, especially at an early age. As a result, they become bored with interacting with their peers. Therefore, the child will seek the company of older children or adults.

3. They love to read

It's no surprise that most super-successful people like Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and many others loved to read as children. Gifted children really learn to read faster and earlier, and then eagerly absorb books.

4. They study the subject in depth

A child who can come up with original thoughts and ideas is likely to be gifted and exceptional. Most young children will usually retell the given material for the teacher, and the gifted child will study additional information in order to understand the topic more deeply.

5. They know how to focus

Gifted children tend to be remarkably focused. When they are given a task, they work hard on it to completion. TVs, video games and social networks do not distract their attention.

6. They're not perfect

Even gifted children are not ideal people. They may show progress in certain areas, but remain inattentive, lazy, or struggle with their own disorganization.

7. They take on leadership roles.

Not all gifted kids take the lead, but leadership is their forte. Even a gifted introvert child will step out of his own world from time to time to guide his peers. This often happens during group projects. The child simply knows how to see, rethink and solve the problem, giving direction to his peers.

8. They exceed expectations

Naturally, when a child is small, we do not expect too much from him. But talent shows up quickly. Such a child begins to get ahead of the stages of standard age development: to read earlier, to speak earlier, to develop earlier in every sense.

9. They quickly understand patterns and patterns of action

Gifted children have an exceptional ability to notice established patterns and patterns, that is, the logic of behavior and actions. They notice everything and fix, for example, the bus schedule under the house. Such children are observant and quickly remember key information.

10. They have a breadth of knowledge

Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, Tesla and Solar City, was a gifted child. When he reread all the books available, he took for encyclopedias. Because of their desire for knowledge, gifted children avidly accumulate and store information of all kinds.

Municipal budgetary preschool educational institution

MBDOU No. 61 "combined type"

How to select a gifted child from a group of children?

(consultation for teachers)

Compiled by: Svetlana Anatolyevna Sherstyannikova,

educator MBDOU No. 61

Leninsk-Kuznetsky, 2016

The problems associated with the development of human giftedness are increasingly attracting the attention of scientists, educators, journalists, writers, and the parent community, both in our country and abroad.

A small artist whose paintings are admired by the whole world. A little mathematician who adds and multiplies huge numbers in his mind. A small athlete with great achievements, who just recently took the first uncertain steps in his life. A small musician who spiritually performs complex works, sometimes inaccessible even to adults.

Gifted children... Who are they? How to discern children's talent, develop and increase it? A gifted child in a children's community, so bright and unlike the others. Is this a gift to a teacher or a problem for him? Today, preschool teachers are puzzled by these questions, who are the first to meet a little man on his big life path and understand their responsibility for what he will become when he grows up.

In preschool childhood, there are as many types of giftedness as there are types of children's activities. Each activity has its own scale of success and originality of achievements. Children's talent begins to manifest itself from a very early age. But will a gifted personality emerge as a result? After all, the signs of giftedness that appear at preschool age can gradually fade away if appropriate conditions are not created to stimulate the development of giftedness. Therefore, teachers of preschool institutions should be especially attentive to children in whom the beginnings of giftedness begin to appear.

A gifted child is a child who has obvious, sometimes outstanding achievements (or has internal prerequisites for such achievements) in one or another type of activity, the intensity and brightness of which distinguish him from his peers. But a gifted child is often distinguished by special vulnerability. It is not easy for him with his unusualness among his peers. Therefore, the task of teachers is to help the child not only discover his talent, but also build relationships with others.
Gifted children are geeks, capable, talented, brilliant. They are called differently. But the essence lies in one thing - in the phenomenon of children's giftedness. Giftedness is, of course, the most precious natural gift, which sometimes turns out to be too heavy a burden for its owner and creates many problems. Giftedness is like a diamond that will sparkle with its facets only after it has been in the hands of a master. No matter how gifted a child is, he needs caring and attentive teachers who will give his natural gift a brilliant shine.

How to select a gifted child from a group of children? In our opinion, a child with the rudiments of giftedness has certain signs of giftedness that are characteristic of his developing personality and distinguish him from his peers:

high level of development of speech and thinking, originality and non-standard thinking; increased amount of attention, ability for long-term concentration;

having a good memory;

manifestation of enthusiasm, curiosity, high cognitive activity, breadth of interests;

high level of learning, enjoyment of the learning process;

independent choice of occupation, the desire to bring their activities to meet high requirements;

creativity, vivid imagination, receptivity to everything new, unusual;

autonomy, independence, self-confidence;

hypersensitivity, excitability, vulnerability, hyperactivity, constant attraction of the attention of others.

Far from all teachers and parents manage to understand and accept such children. Their attitude towards such children is ambiguous. The appearance of a child with signs of giftedness in some families evokes feelings of joy, admiration in parents, the desire to actively contribute to his development, to grow on his own; in others - confusion, failures in interaction with a bright and unusual baby who is different from his peers. Difficulties in communicating with such children, their rejection is sometimes observed in kindergarten. Not everything is so simple and easy when there is a non-standard child in the group, showing signs of giftedness. It is bad if such a child remains misunderstood and not accepted as he is, with all his features. No matter how difficult it may be for a teacher to communicate with such a child, he should largely try to change the difficult situation, paint it in a positive color - the color of joy, happiness from communicating with a miracle that is open to the world, which is revealed before his eyes, from the awareness of involvement to that.

Currently, various types of human giftedness have been identified. Among them are intellectual, artistic, creative, psychomotor, social (leadership, communicative), which manifest themselves already in the preschool period. Parents and teachers usually take care of the mental abilities, giftedness of the child in musical and visual activities. Little attention is paid to the development of social talent, which is manifested in communication. But it is precisely social giftedness that can become an impetus for the development of abilities of a higher level.
As modern studies show, not always those who have developed mental abilities achieve great success in their lives, but, as a rule, people who have the ability to easily enter into communication, establish favorable interpersonal relationships, have pronounced leadership qualities and organizational skills, and also know how to choose the right area of ​​your activity and move towards the intended goal.

The experience of preschool teachers shows that children with the beginnings of social giftedness are more common in kindergarten than with other types of giftedness. Therefore, we decided to develop a system of work with socially gifted children for the early development of their communicative and leadership qualities, to ensure the possibility of their self-realization. After all, it is with the ability to self-actualize, in our opinion, that all human achievements in later life will be connected. And communication will become a means of self-realization.
Kindergarten is the first social institution in which the social and personal development of the child begins. It is in the kindergarten group that the child begins to learn all the subtleties of interaction and communication with the surrounding adults and children.
Identification of gifted children in a children's team is a problem that has long attracted the attention of psychologists, teachers and parents. However, today it largely remains unresolved, it is considered to be among the urgent, especially complex, requiring increased attention. All researchers of the issue of child giftedness recognize the need for the earliest possible identification of gifted children in a children's team in order to create conditions for the development of their talent. However, the difficulty lies in the fact that there is no unambiguous relationship to the very process of early identification of giftedness.
When we first get to know the pupils of a new group, we should try to determine whether the child in front of us is gifted or whether his difference from other children is due to the peculiarities of his upbringing and early development in the family. Identification of children with signs of giftedness is a long process associated with an analysis of the developmental characteristics of each individual child. We must direct our work towards the search for gifted children in the process of joint activities, communication, and independent activities of children that correspond to their interests.
As a result of observations, the child's abilities, his inclinations and interests are revealed. We should pay special attention to children who ask a lot of questions, who are interested in others, who are aware of what is of no interest to their peers. We must single out children who quickly remember what adults have read and told, react emotionally to everything new, think in an original way and offer unexpected answers and solutions.

Children whose development was not involved in the family, as a rule, are not able to find and make non-standard decisions in difficult situations. And gifted children are independent, energetic and independent. They have a rich vocabulary associated with early language acquisition. They are capable of word creation, have great speech activity. At an early age, such children trace causal relationships well and draw certain conclusions. They can be assigned to perform a more difficult task, which they will approach responsibly if they are interested in it. To do this, we offer them situations, the solution of which requires initiative and non-standard thinking. If such children have a high level of cognitive interest, they will become assistants to adults in any endeavors. To support and develop the individuality of a gifted child, not to slow down the growth of his abilities is one of the important tasks facing preschool teachers. In our preschool institution, we pay special attention to the development of socially gifted children. After all, it is in the preschool years that social giftedness begins to manifest itself and develop, as evidenced by the results of various studies in this area.

There are many prerequisites for the development of social giftedness during preschool childhood. At this time, self-awareness, the need to communicate with adults and peers, the ability to empathize are actively formed, social emotions and feelings develop. The preschool group is the first children's community in which communication and various types of children's activities are formed and developed, a new social role is mastered - a member of the children's group, relationships with peers are formed.
Socially gifted children are always leaders in the children's team. They early manifest leadership qualities that contribute to the unification of the children's team. They are distinguished by activity, a pronounced interest in people, the need for communication. It is communicatively gifted children who become the initiators of interaction in the group. A gifted child often takes on the role of organizer of a collective game. Having a good speech, he can tell the teacher what other children want, who at this stage find it difficult to express their thoughts. Such children are always ready to help their peers with advice or deed, they are able to resolve emerging conflicts. Most of the children of the group want to communicate and be friends with them. However, gifted children quickly realize their superiority over others, which often allows them to command children, choose games of their choice, and establish their own rules.
Also, in our work, we should pay great attention to the development of the communicative qualities of socially gifted children. The development of communication most clearly occurs in creative activity: in acting out role-playing dialogues, staging poems, performing sketches, dramatizing works of art, role-playing and directing.
Gifted children clearly imagine how any game can be organized, they know how to create conditions for games: they choose a place, distribute roles, find the necessary toys, determine the content of the game and be sure to bring something new into the game. We noticed that such children participate with interest in conversations about the upcoming game, ask adults a lot of questions in order to learn something new, and share their impressions with everyone around them with pleasure. Vivid impressions allow gifted children to take a more responsible attitude to the performance of a game role. They are inventive in actions with toys, imitate their voices and have conversations with them, their activity is emotional in nature. Most often, gifted children take on the main roles and do well with them. They can invite to the game only those whom they want and get upset if they do not agree with them in some way. They often show excessive demands on their peers, striving for leadership. Therefore, the task of teachers is to explain to a gifted child that it is necessary to take into account the opinions of peers. Such a child should not feel superior to other children, so teachers use the method of subsequent discussion of the game actions of all participants in the collective game.
For the early development of social giftedness of preschoolers in the preschool educational institution, they create problem-speech situations, conduct communicative games, game exercises for the development of the emotional sphere, study games, organize ethical conversations, read and discuss fiction, stimulate the activity of children in creative games, in the process of creative work. workshops, spend holidays and entertainment.
It is generally accepted that the main factor in the development of social giftedness at an early age is the family. A favorable atmosphere in the family, trusting relationships with parents and other family members influence the formation of a child's social interest. Social giftedness is formed in children in families with a democratic style of adult communication with each other and with children, where personal communication and joint pastime are valued. Children are given the opportunity for independent actions and decisions, but there is also a certain reasonable control over their actions.

The development of children's giftedness is facilitated by a high interest in the constant learning of new things from the parents themselves, who, as a rule, are not only employed in the field of intellectual professions, but also have various kinds of intellectual hobbies. In communicating with a child, they always go beyond the circle of everyday problems, devoting their free time to joint cognitive activities - common games, discussion of interesting issues, solving intellectual problems. Often parents and children are united by common cognitive interests, on the basis of which stable friendly relations arise between them. In these families, there is a much smaller distance between parents and children, the very fact of the reduction of which can have not only clearly positive, but sometimes even negative features. In many cases, it is the parents who begin to teach a gifted child, and often one of them becomes his mentor for many years in a variety of activities: in artistic and aesthetic, sports, and music.

However, even the best intentions of parents can play both a positive and a negative role in the development of a gifted child. Therefore, specialists working with such children need to pay special attention to the family in order to help parents find ways to solve the problems that often occur when raising a gifted child.
Our experience of interacting with parents shows that they have different attitudes towards the problem of their own children's giftedness. Some believe that it is not necessary to pay attention to the curiosity, imagination, creativity of the child, as this is due to the peculiarities of age. Others, on the contrary, exaggerate the capabilities of the child, thereby emphasizing that their baby is not like everyone else, that his giftedness gives him the right to special privileges. They constantly tell the child about his exclusivity, putting him above all other children. We try to explain to parents that this approach to education is not correct, because the child should become part of society, and not stand out from it. It is important for us that parents understand that a child must have healthy self-control and an understanding that the abilities and interests of other children can be just as worthy of attention as their own. But in any case, a gifted child has the right to expect that his talent will find understanding and support, first of all, from his parents.

Human talent needs constant development. She is like a plant that needs to be nurtured with love. Without care and attention, it fades away. Therefore, we must strive to unite our efforts together with the family in the upbringing and development of gifted children. And, perhaps, there will be more gifted children.

Bibliography:

Belova E.S. Giftedness of the kid: to reveal, understand, support: a guide for educators and parents. 3rd ed. - M., 2004.

Vygotsky L.S. Psychology of child development. - M., 2006.

Brief psychological dictionary / ed. A.V. Petrovsky, M.G. Yaroshevsky. - M., 1990.

Psychology of social giftedness: a manual for the identification and development of communicative abilities of preschoolers / E.A. Panko and others - M., 2009.

Parents are the first to notice the giftedness of the child, although this is not always easy to do, since there is no stereotype of giftedness - each child shows his abilities in his own way. Most often, the giftedness of a child remains unnoticed in families where this child is the first or only one.

Many parents say: I do not want my child to be gifted, let him be a normal, happy child, like everyone else". Or, in response to the question: " What is it like raising a gifted child?"- they answer that everything was fine until the child was labeled gifted at school and informed the parents about it.

The child has remained the same, but the parental perception has changed: parents begin to get nervous, to wonder: " Is this how we fulfill our obligations towards the child?" In such cases, tension can crowd out the joy of family relationships. There is also the possibility that the child's self-perception will be changed by the label of giftedness.

Trying to understand parental experiences and give them an answer, you ask yourself a very serious problem: do thinking parents really seriously believe that being gifted means being abnormal, not being able to find a place in the company of peers, being unhappy? Sadly, these are widespread stereotypes sometimes shared by parents. This attitude can seriously interfere with a normal, happy childhood; Such stereotypes need to be debunked and destroyed. Denying or ignoring the child's unique abilities for the sake of social mores, in any case, will not help the child find his place in life and become happy. The ideal parental response is joyful and should probably lie somewhere in the middle between ignoring and exploiting the child's abilities.

Returning to the original statement that parents are the discoverers of gifted children, it is appropriate to recall what are the main behavioral characteristics of a gifted child described in the literature and mentioned by parents (Vail, 1979; Martinson, 1974).

Most often, parents note early speech, the use of complex words, as well as early development of counting or reading, often other characteristics: great curiosity (" She asks a million questions about everything in the world!") and tenacious memory (" He remembers everything in such detail."). These last abilities deserve special attention, along with quick perception (" She catches everything on the fly") imagination (" He plays with imaginary friends" or " She tells me such fantastic stories"), while the role of individual specific achievements (the ability to read or count) should not be overestimated.

Various TV programs, educational games, as well as communication with parents or older brothers and sisters can help a completely ordinary child cope with certain tasks. Gifted children show their abilities in different ways, and sometimes they prefer not to show them at all. By no means all exceptionally capable children begin to speak early, even if there are appropriate conditions for this.

A parent's discovery of their own child's giftedness should give rise to a joyful expectation and willingness to solve the problems associated with it, and not a disarming concern that can turn the most important bonds for a growing person - those between parents and children.

Distinguish talent:

• social, otherwise leadership;
• artistic- musical, visual, scenic;
• psychomotor defining exceptional athletic abilities;
• academic, which manifests itself in an unusual ability to learn. People with this ability are usually excellent specialists;
• intellectual- this is the ability to analyze, think, compare facts. In the family, such a child is smart and smart, and at school he is an excellent student. Among intellectual children there are those who study excellently in only one or two subjects and do not succeed in others;
• creative, which manifests itself in a non-standard vision of the world and unconventional thinking, but such children often do not achieve their goals and are known as losers. From childhood, they annoy everyone - both in the family and at school. It is important to notice such a child in time and help him.

In addition to the obvious giftedness, obvious to everyone who surrounds the child, there is a hidden giftedness that does not manifest itself in one or another of the child's oddities; with such children, teachers and parents usually experience great difficulties.

These children include:

• fans, carried away by some one thing (computer fanatics). For them, school is only a hindrance;
• lazy people who absorb any information, but do not want to do anything;
• modest- children with low self-esteem, seeking not to show themselves;
• neurotics or even psychopaths who constantly come into conflict in the family and with others;
• eccentrics or strange - calm soft children who do not like to conflict.

It is important to discern the hidden giftedness in the child, otherwise his abilities may never develop. Such a child especially needs the help of adults, especially parents.

Problems of gifted children:

1. School dislike. This attitude often comes from the fact that the curriculum is boring and uninteresting for a gifted child. Behavioral disturbances in gifted children may occur because the curriculum does not match their abilities.
2. gaming interests. Gifted children enjoy complex games and are not interested in those that their peers of average ability are fond of. As a result, a gifted child finds himself in isolation, withdraws into himself.
3. conformity. Gifted children, while rejecting standard requirements, are thus not inclined to conformism, especially if these standards go against their interests or seem meaningless.
4. Immersion in philosophical problems. It is common for gifted children to think about such phenomena as death, the afterlife, religious beliefs, and philosophical problems in a much more than for the average child.
5. Discrepancy between physical, intellectual and social development. Gifted children often prefer to socialize and play with older children. Because of this, it is sometimes difficult for them to become leaders, as they are inferior to the latter in physical development.
6. Striving for excellence (perfectionism). Gifted children are characterized by an inner need for perfection. They do not rest until they reach the highest level. This property manifests itself very early.

Dear parents!

Only you can help your child and support him. Here are some recommendations. N. Rogers, in accordance with the principles of humanistic psychology, proposes to tune in as follows:

I will listen carefully to you: your feelings and thoughts. I will hear your pain, your anguish, your anger, sadness, joy.

I will respect you and the decisions you make for yourself.

I will disagree with you, but I will always respect you and your truth (found by you).

I will encourage and support you to try new things, but I will never force you.

I am learning from you and open to new experiences that I learn in communication with you; sometimes I make mistakes, I do what I don't want to do, sometimes I'm wrong. In such cases, I will tell you directly about it, I will say “I'm sorry”.

By accepting these tips and trying to follow them, you will quickly find a solution to your problems with children.

Highly gifted children require special attention from parents, teachers, and educators. You need to support and give space to the extraordinary abilities of these children, keep them playful and develop both the emotional and intellectual side of their personality. Only then will they be able to creatively realize their giftedness.

Material prepared
teacher-psychologist MAOU DOD "CDT"

Giftedness Syndrome

The giftedness syndrome was first described by John Langton Down at the end of the 19th century. Its essence lies in the amazing memory of man. The scientist recalled cases when people endowed with the syndrome of giftedness could quote any passages from huge and complex books by heart. Usually phenomenal memory extends to some specific area, whether it be music, painting or mathematics.

The sounds “do, re, mi…” are heard from the sculptural workshop. “I'm the one practicing to sing the scale,” the young artist, stained with clay, began to justify herself when she saw me. An unusual impression for a person who first came to the Moscow City Palace of Children's (Youth) Creativity, located on Sparrow Hills. This is a unique place where enthusiastic and talented children flock to "take a break" from school and try their hand at creativity.

Lilia Vovdenko is eight years old, today she sculpts a composition of animals from clay. The girl is carried away and does not notice what is happening around.

Look, Lily, how the girl leaned on the table, - pointing at me, Andrey Pavlyuk, the sculptor and head of the workshop, intervened in the work, - this is how a cat should have such a bend!

The children in the workshop are different: some are closed in on themselves, some chatter incessantly and try to tear off the head of the sculpture just like that, out of curiosity. Vera Kamenskaya and Ira Kuznetsova have been at the Palace of Creativity since the age of four. Now the girls are eleven, and they successfully combine a sculpture workshop, an art studio, wushu and a music school. The girls do everything. And they also want to mold a huge ball of clay, put their classmates there and roll the ball around the world.

Whether a child has abilities or not, they quickly determine here: if a young creator comes for the second time, it means that he is at least interested here.

In fact, it is difficult to identify talent in a child. If there are any abilities, it still does not say anything. A person with artistic abilities can also be a brilliant mathematician. But talent needs to be developed, - the sculptor shared his experience.

For the first time, the guys come to the Palace of Creativity with their parents, someone comes in company with a friend and stays. As in an ordinary school, it has its own attendance log. "Nb" (abbreviated as "was not") near surnames is extremely rare.

I have my own methodology for developing talent: I don’t keep children in the workshop, on the contrary, I drive them with a stick. But they don't leave!" Andrey Pavlyuk laughs.

Discover Talent

As psychologists say, children's giftedness is different. It can be pronounced, but only 1 to 3 percent of children have a bright talent. There is age-related giftedness, when talent suddenly manifests itself in a child at a certain age, and after some time, perhaps, it also suddenly fades away. And finally, the talent is hidden. For the time being, latent giftedness does not manifest itself in a child for one reason or another, but exists in him as an undiscovered potential. It is worth paying special attention to it. According to psychologists, there are about 25 percent of children with hidden gifts. And not only learn to distinguish hidden talent, but also support it, grow it.

In our country, from the end of the last century until recently, when identifying giftedness, psychologists adhered to the American concept, - says Diana Borisovna Bogoyavlenskaya, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Head of the Laboratory for Diagnostics of Creativity at the Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Education, author of numerous works on the development of children's giftedness. - Its essence lies in the fact that giftedness is, as it were, divided into several types. If a child receives high marks at school, then such a student, psychologists believed, is endowed with academic talent. If a child performs well on intelligence tests (IQ tests), then it was recognized that he was intellectually gifted. Finally, if a child performs well on tests of creativity (Joy Gilford's tests), then they were considered to have creative talent.

Our psychologists believe that any talented person is capable of creativity

However, the allocation of these types of giftedness is based on a concept that is not consistent with the domestic concept of giftedness. On my initiative, a group of leading psychologists developed a domestic concept of giftedness. From the point of view of modern psychology, giftedness is considered not as a complex of abilities, but as a systemic quality of the psyche that develops throughout life. These are not only high abilities, but also a certain motivation, will and corresponding system of values. In the domestic concept of giftedness, giftedness and creative giftedness are not distinguished.

And how are they?

In Japan, all schools hold a lesson in admiring a flower. Children during the academic hour look at the image of a flower. The Japanese are sure that in this way you can not only set children up for creative work, but also develop their abilities. In addition, the Japanese system of raising a child is popular far beyond the borders of the country. rising sun. The essence of the technique is not to prohibit anything to a child under 7-10 years old. Let him do whatever he wants, as long as he doesn't get killed. Sounds too provocative, but works great. The child has a chance already in early childhood to find activities to his liking without the pressure of parents. In Western European countries, there are practically no general education subjects in schools for especially gifted children. And in Latvia, gifted children are sent to the Riga Lyceum named after A. S. Pushkin. There is the most difficult program with in-depth study of mathematics and foreign languages. Children who graduate from this lyceum enter the best universities not only in Latvia, but throughout Europe.

Where will we study?

In schools abroad, special classes are now very popular, in which children are combined into several groups, depending on their abilities. That is, studying in the same class and being present at the lesson together, the most gifted children get the opportunity to study special program. The effect of this form of education, according to experts, is incredibly high.

In our country, there is no such division in classes, but there are specialized classes and schools where gifted children are selected on the basis of competitions and exams. But there is no consensus among psychologists and teachers regarding such educational institutions. Some believe that specialized schools really benefit children and develop in talented children the abilities already inherent in nature. Others say isolating children is dangerous. You can grow geniuses from them, but they still have to live in a society of various people. Can they survive in it? Will they be understood?

	Goethe By the age of thirteen, Johann Goethe already knew six languages. To consolidate his knowledge, he wrote a novel, which consisted of correspondence between brothers and sisters. The traveling brother wrote in German, the theologian brother in Latin and Greek, the merchant brothers in English and French, the musician brother in Italian, and the youngest wrote in Hebrew.
	Mozart At the age of four, Mozart repeated small pieces after his older sister and immediately memorized them. At the same age, Wolfgang composed a harpsichord concerto. By the age of six, he was already performing virtuoso works. Parents did not have to persuade their son to sit down at the instrument. On the contrary, they were worried that he would not overwork.
	Pushkin Alexander Pushkin did not know mathematics well, and one day the teacher called him to the blackboard and asked him a difficult problem. "Well, how much will it be?" - Asked the teacher after a long reflection of Pushkin. "Zero!" the poet replied with a smile. “In my lessons, you always get only zeros! the teacher replied angrily. “Sit down on the last desk and write your poems there!” And at that time, losers were usually put on the last desk.

It is curious that in the Moscow City Palace of Children's (Youth) Creativity - one of the largest institutions in the capital, where teachers work with talented children, they have an ambiguous attitude towards specialized schools. Here is what Victor Sobolev, deputy director of the Palace of Children's Creativity, thinks:

Of course, schools for gifted children have everything you need to develop talent in a child: good teachers, new methods and material resources. But at the same time, children studying in such schools have big problems with social adaptation.

As a rule, talented children have a special attitude towards the environment, they have a special worldview. They seem to live in their own world and, having left the walls of such a school, they are completely unprepared to live in society and communicate.

To develop talent, you need to find a good teacher who knows what program to study with a child.

Professor of the Moscow State Pedagogical University Alexander Savinkov also believes that the development of giftedness does not depend on the school:

We must not forget that the majority of outstanding people did not study at all in some elite special schools, but in the most ordinary, mass ones.

On the other hand, in ordinary schools, talent is often completely lost, because the generally accepted grading system singles out those who study diligently, pay equal attention to all subjects, carefully do homework, and are diligent. Let's say a boy gets two in physics and chemistry for unlearned lessons, because he writes poetry or reads historical books all night long. So what's the secret to nurturing talent?

Talented teachers, - Viktor Sobolev is sure. - To develop talent, first of all, you need to find a good teacher who knows in which direction to act, according to what program to study with the child. As they say, today there are many teachers, but there are only one or two teachers.

Governmental support

At international olympiads, our children show excellent results, - says Igor Belyak, Deputy Director of the Department of Youth Policy of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. -Combined teams of our students each year bring about 25 gold, silver and bronze medals from international Olympiads in various subjects.

At the all-Russian level, more than three hundred events are held for gifted children every year, more than 3,000 students in grades 8-11 take part in all-Russian Olympiads for schoolchildren. And over 3,000 children participate in various festivals and art competitions. So there are conditions for the development of talented children in our country.

There is a special sub-program "Gifted children", which provides financial support for gifted children. Winners of all-Russian and international olympiads, competitions, conferences become scholarship holders of the Gifted Children subprogram. Each of the young talents receives 10,000 rubles.

During the implementation of this program, 1207 children became its scholarship holders. In 2001, the Ministry created a special data bank "Gifted Children", where scholarship holders of the federal subprogram automatically enter. Judging by the number of participants in the Olympiads, from 2000 to 2005 the number of children participating in the Olympiads increased from 5500 to 8000.

Talented children are supported at various levels. A special working group "Gifted Generation" has been created at the Civic Chamber of Russia. The working group includes employees of the Ministry of Education and Science, scientists and specialists in this field who are preparing a public-state project to identify and support young talents.

It is especially important to support talents in the provinces, where hundreds of gifted children simply do not know how they can reveal their abilities and who will help them with this. Most of them are not even aware of the existence of specialized educational institutions, which the capital is rich in.

In Moscow, every talented student can realize himself, - Victor Sobylev agreed with us, - in the capital there are enough palaces and centers of creativity, where experienced teachers work and there is an excellent base. It is more difficult for children who live in the outback. They have to raise themselves. But this is not enough, next to a gifted child there should always be an adult who will help him find himself in life.

In 2004, the Ministry of Education and Science established the All-Russian Center for Gifted Children and basic centers in seven federal districts. Their task is to find and support talents, and first of all - in the provinces. Director of the All-Russian Center Natalya Yurievna Sinyagina said:

It is important to note that the problem of giftedness has found support at the regional level: the heads of administrations of a number of constituent entities of the Russian Federation create bonus funds, appoint nominal scholarships, and provide funding for diagnostic measures to identify gifted children.

It is clear that government programs, awards, scholarships and other forms of support for gifted children are needed. Just as necessary is the work of psychologists, teachers and other specialists with talented children.

Perhaps, without this support and attention to themselves, hundreds of gifted children simply would not be able to express themselves. And yet, in order to cultivate talent, this is not enough.

Without the support and understanding of parents, without their educational talent, it is incredibly difficult for a child to defend his right to individuality, and even more so to preserve and develop his gift.

Elena NOVIKOVA Gala SVECHKOPALOVA

Gifted teacher needed

Gifted children also need gifted teachers who would be sensitive to the needs of children and who would not interfere with the development of talents with their constant anxiety, petty guardianship and inflated ambition.

Each ability, talent, granted to us by God, must be patiently and carefully cultivated, like a gardener's rose: put a support somewhere, gently tie something up, cut something off, and close something from the wind.

Alas, not all parents can find the right approach to raising their gifted child. And talent, instead of developing and multiplying, simply withers away. Here are just a few typical parenting mistakes that parents would like to focus on.

Don't live up to expectations

One of the most common mistakes is exalting a child's abilities. The whole family begins to revolve around the "idol", cultivating a star fever in him and at the same time causing the secret envy of brothers and sisters, if any. Everyone expects only success, success in everything that the young talent touches. But success in one area can coexist with complete failure in another. It `s naturally. But the inflated parental ambition is not ready for such a development of events. These parental attitudes are assimilated by children. The sword of Damocles of failure will hang over the child all his life, the constant fear of being worse than others, not getting an “A”, not winning at the Olympics, not taking first place in the competition. Increased anxiety and fear begin to interfere with the development of such children. As a result, instead of being revealed, abilities are paralyzed, and instead of developing talents, a neurosis begins to form in a child. Someone constantly bites his nails or a pen, someone begins to wink, close his eyes, another constantly licks his lips, someone clicks his tongue. These are behavioral symptoms of excessive stress, increased anxiety, which the fragile children's psyche cannot cope with. Constant stress can also lead to somatic disorders. Insomnia, dermatitis, constant headaches, nausea, sometimes even vomiting before going to school - all this is the price for excessive parental demands caused by vanity and the desire to establish themselves at the expense of their child. The gifts of children become the object of manipulation by parents who crave only success. The five-point grading system that we are accustomed to turns into a two-point system: everything that is not a “five” is a “two”.

Here are the stories of gifted primary school students:

“I am most afraid of tests. I drop the pen right out of fear. I do the first task, there are 20 of them in total, and the teacher says that there are 10 minutes left until the end of the lesson. My head is even expanding. I'm afraid of getting a bad grade. Everyone looks at me with hope ... "

“Dad asks to see the diary and starts cursing. He scolds me for skipping fours.

“I'm not being bullied. They offend with words: fool, idiot, the verb to be is needed! verb! I'm not complaining. I barely live."

The parents of the third-grader Sasha beat him with a belt, even if the work from colored paper does not work out. Mom says:

“You must strive for the highest, and you will always do less!”

Inadequate parental expectations can distort the thought process itself. Such a child copes with complex tasks, but cannot complete simple ones: he begins to be original, complicate and invent something utterly out of the ordinary, because the parental attitude is to be different from others, extraordinary.

Unleash talents

How can parents evaluate the correctness of their educational approach? American researcher David Lewis analyzed the experience of thousands of families in which gifted children are brought up. The researcher drew attention to the successful experience and made recommendations for the development of the intellectual potential of children. Here is what he advises parents raising young geniuses:

• answer all the questions of the children as patiently and honestly as possible;
• provide the child with a room or part of the room exclusively for his studies, pay special attention to the arrangement of the workplace;
• do not scold him for the mess in the room or on the table, if this is related to a creative activity and the work has not yet been completed;
• find time every day to be alone with the child;
• allow children to play with all sorts of rubbish;
• encourage the child to find problems and then solve them;
• help the child improve the result of his work;
• make it clear that you love the child in itself, and not his achievements;
• entrust your son or daughter with feasible household chores;
• set a reasonable behavioral standard and strive for the child to follow it;
• teach children to think for themselves;
• help the child make his own plans and make decisions;
• to teach him to adequately communicate with children from different social and cultural backgrounds, as well as with adults of any age;
• allow children to take part in family planning;
• never tell a child that he is worse than other children;
• never tease him for mistakes;
• do not exclude any topics for discussion with children;
• help children find worth watching TV shows;
• encourage a son or daughter to invent different stories, fantasize;
• never praise a child pointlessly and insincerely, one must be able to find in his studies what is worthy of praise;
• regularly read to the child and teach him to read from an early age;
• give the child the opportunity to really make decisions;
• try to ensure that the main part of the work that the child undertook, he did on his own, even if you are not sure of a positive result.

Being like everyone else is easier

The completely opposite attitude of some parents is to not notice the outstanding abilities of their children at all. Their credo is to be like everyone else, and they don't need a gifted child. Let him be an excellent student, this is acceptable, but giftedness with its excessive inquisitiveness, confusion, endless questions, eccentricity does not fit into the Procrustean bed of parental ideas about what their child should be like. The modern strategy of success in life for many people presupposes, first of all, material prosperity. And children begin to be ashamed of their abilities. In order not to “stick out”, not to stand out among classmates, they simply bury their talents.

A second-grader from an ordinary school has an excellent memory, rich imagination, speech developed beyond her years, writes poetry, composes stories, fantasizes a lot, draws. But parents do not notice this, and school success is 3-4. Possessing increased sensitivity and vulnerability, she is so afraid of her loud teacher that she never raises her hand and prefers to remain in the shadows, plunging into the world of her fantasies.

If talented, why not an excellent student?

Many parents do not really understand the peculiarities of the intellectual development of gifted children. They are focused on the school mark as an indicator of academic success, and their child does not fit into the school norms. He can go headlong into history, read about it all night long and completely abandon chemistry, come to school with unlearned lessons and pick up “twos”. Or he can spend hours making something, soldering, and at the same time he has a “troika” in physics. "How it is?" - ask the parents and, demanding formal success, do not take into account the interests of the child. But their son or daughter is currently interested not in grades, but in the process, they are experimenting, and this is one of the manifestations of giftedness, and not the result that is traditionally assessed by the school.

Many parents, demanding formal success and excellent grades, do not take into account the interests of the child.

There is another problem that many parents who raise gifted children forget about. This is the development of social competence: to be adequate in behavior with elders, not to bully and not to conflict with peers. After all, it often happens that a gifted child, surrounded by not so talented classmates, feels very lonely. What is understandable and interesting to him does not always occupy other guys, and sometimes ordinary envy can alienate him from his peers. They can give him an offensive nickname, they will start making fun of him, and he will become a black sheep in the class. In elementary school, it is still possible to cope with such a problem. But for teenagers, loneliness is the hardest test. Therefore, helping to overcome social alienation, self-centeredness, and finding friends is a very difficult task for parents, but this is the basis for the future success of their sons and daughters. After all, over the years, a gifted child is not waiting for a series of Olympiads, where individual success is required, but the creation of a family where you need to take care about another person and be able to hear him; be able to obey the authorities, even if his instructions are far from being as brilliant as we would like; be able to cooperate with colleagues, taking into account their "lack of talent", and even mediocrity. American psychologists have come to the conclusion that for business success, a high level of social competence is more important than intellectual abilities. But communication skills, relationship models are laid primarily in the family. And if arrogance, intolerance of criticism, pride and arrogance were instilled in a young talent from an early age, then the breaking of these attitudes by life can begin quite early: quarrelsomeness at work, family divorces, somatic ailments and constant inner loneliness, covered up by imaginary external successes. Can talent in the service of pride be multiplied, developed to its fullest? Parents who water their “rose” abundantly should think about this.

Veronika Sorokina, PhD in Psychology,
senior researcher of the laboratory
instrumental methods of psychology
Moscow City Psychological and Pedagogical University.